Aangeleverd door: Sietse Werkman
To Sleep Better, Spend More Time in the Dark
By Dr. Mercola
Recent research1 reveals that you have more than one biological clock in your body. As it turns out, virtually every organ in your body has its own clock or circadian rhythm, and in order to keep them all in sync, you need to keep a regular waking and sleeping schedule that is linked to the rising and setting of the sun.
When your sleep schedule is erratic, a cascade of effects can occur, raising your blood pressure, altering hunger hormones, and disrupting your blood sugar control, for example.
Chronic sleep disruptions also promote metabolic dysfunction that can result in weight gain and type 2 diabetes. It also increases C-reactive protein, an inflammatory marker associated with deadly heart attacks.
Basically, the various systems in your body are programmed to perform scheduled tasks at specific times during the 24 hour wake-sleep cycle, and when you consistently act against these clocks, your internal systems start to malfunction.
Shift workers who stay awake all night and sleep during the day are especially at risk.
For example, three years of intermittent night shift work can increase your risk for diabetes by 20 percent, and this risk continues to rise with time. Shift workers also have higher rates of obesity, and a four- to five-fold higher rate of cancer than the average population.
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